News, data and analysis on tokenized assets, market design and digital economic systems.
London-headquartered bank earning roughly 90% of its profit in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, whose Anchorpoint joint venture holds one of Hong Kong's first two stablecoin issuer licences and will issue the HKDAP token from the second quarter of 2026.
London-headquartered bank formed in 1969 from the merger of the Chartered Bank of India, Australia and China and the Standard Bank of British South Africa, with roughly 90% of profit earned in Asia, Africa and the Middle East and total assets of about $920bn in 2025. It has assembled the digital asset chain in pieces rather than as one platform: Libeara, incubated by SC Ventures in Singapore, tokenised a Singapore-dollar government bond fund with FundBridge Capital; Anchorpoint Financial, its joint venture with HKT and Animoca Brands, received one of Hong Kong's first two stablecoin issuer licences in April 2026 and will issue the HKDAP token from the second quarter of 2026 through authorised distributors. In May 2026 the bank confirmed it would buy out the minority holders of Zodia Custody (Northern Trust, Emirates NBD, SBI Holdings and National Australia Bank) and move the custody business into corporate and investment banking while keeping it available to third-party institutions.
Developments in which Standard Chartered PLC is a named party, newest first.
Standard Chartered and HSBC say they have executed the first live tokenized deposit transaction on Swift's blockchain-based ledger, issuing, transferring, recording and settling between two banks' own platforms.
Total revenue and reserve income of $701m in the second quarter grew 7% year on year, short of the $712m CoinDesk says analysts expected, as a 66 basis point fall in the rate Circle earns on its reserves offset a quarter's growth in the coin's average supply.
SC Ventures, the Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital back the pan-African payments company's dollar-account business, taking its equity financing past $120m as it moves into Latin America and the Asia-Pacific.
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority granted its first stablecoin issuer licences on 10 April 2026 to HSBC and to Anchorpoint Financial, a joint venture led by Standard Chartered with Animoca Brands and HKT.
Standard Chartered and HSBC said on 19 August 2026 that they had executed the first live tokenized deposit transaction on Swift's blockchain-based ledger, describing it as issuing, transferring, recording and settling tokenized deposits between two banks and demonstrating interbank interoperability. No currency, value or corridor is disclosed in the release.
Circle reported second-quarter 2026 revenue and reserve income of $701m on 5 August, up 7% year on year, with reserve income of $668m up 5% as a 66 basis point fall in the reserve return rate offset 25% growth in average USDC in circulation. USDC in circulation was $73.3bn at the quarter end and net income from continuing operations $48m.
Yellow Card closed a $40m strategic round on 4 August 2026 from SC Ventures by Standard Chartered, the Sony Innovation Fund, Polychain Capital and Blockchain Capital, taking total equity financing past $120m. The money goes to Global USD Accounts, its dollar account for businesses, and to extending its stablecoin rails into Latin America and the Asia-Pacific.
What issued, what settled, what the supervisors changed, with the numbers behind it and a note on what the numbers do not show. One email, Thursday mornings.
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